Street Lit

	16 on the Block / Babygirl Daniels When she is expected to pay back her sister's old debt, sixteen-year-old Summer must take to the streets, learning hard, fast lessons about survival, loyalty, and love.
	A Girl Like Me / Ni-Ni Simone When a radio contest puts her in close contact with sexy singer Haneef, sixteen-year-old Elite, who has a crack-addicted mother and is secretly raising her siblings on her own, gets the chance to make her dreams come true.
	Chameleon / Charles R. Smith, Jr. The summer before starting high school in inner-city Los Angeles, fourteen-year-old Shawn grapples with his first experience of love, the complicated bonds of friends and family, and the reality of street gang violence.
	Choosing Sides / Treasure Hernandez Instead of following his dreams of NBA superstardom, Malek Johnson heads for the 'hood to save his girlfriend Sunshine from a life of prostitution, and together they try to escape the harsh street life before it is too late.
	Death before dishonor / 50 Cent Achieving success with her beauty salon after a long stint in prison, Sunni despairs of finding a healthy relationship, while Trill, having served five years for a crime he did not commit, dreams of revenge and winning the lifestyle his model girlfriend craves. Sequels follow.
	Diamond District / 50 Cent and Derrick R. Pledger Set in the live-and-die world of the streets, where a select few struggle to survive the powerful and violent forces of their neighborhoods.
	Dice / T.N. Baker When hustler Wasuan Wells is challenged by a powerful man from the same hood, he must choose between paying up, taking his last breath, or sacrificing his girl, who soon finds herself in the middle of a dangerous love triangle.
	Dope Sick / Walter Dean Myers Seeing no way out of his difficult life in Harlem, seventeen-year-old Jeremy "Lil J" Dance flees into a house after a drug deal goes awry and meets a weird man who shows different turning points in Lil J's life when he could have made better choices.
	Fast Forward / Celeste O. Norfleet When she is kicked out of private school and sent to the local public school, Kenisha Lewis makes new friends and enemies and moves way too fast with a guy who might be mixed up in something serious.
	Fast Life / Cassandra Carter When her single mother is offered a job in the Caribbean away from her Chicago neighborhood where drugs, gang violence, and fast money rule, sixteen-year-old Kyra finally realizes that there is more to life than Gucci, Prada and "ghetto-fabulous bling."
	Grace After Midnight / Felicia Pearson and David Ritz An actress best known for her portrayal of Snoop on HBO's The Wire traces her disadvantaged life, from her foster-care upbringing in violent east Baltimore and stint in prison for killing a woman in self-defense to the murder of her drug-dealer mentor and her discovery at a nightclub.
	Harlem Heat / 50 Cent and Mark Anthony Endeavoring to retain her fast-money lifestyle, former drug gang member Roxy masterminds a successful Harlem-based gun-trafficking ring with the assistance of her eighteen-year-old stripper daughter, an effort that pits them against dangerous rivals and eventually forces them to run from the law.
	Homeboyz / Alan Lawrence Sitomer Seventeen-year-old Teddy Anderson, who is known on the streets as T-Bear, decides to seek revenge on the person responsible for his little sister's death, which was caused by a stray bullet from a semiautomatic handgun.
	Hot Girl / Dream Jordan Kate, a fourteen-year-old Brooklyn girl and former gang member, risks losing her first good foster family when she adopts the risqué ways of her flirtatious new friend, Naleejah.
	Hotlanta / Denene Millner and Mitzi Miller Living a privileged life in Atlanta, wealthy and beautiful African American twin sisters, Sydney and Lauren, must deal with family secrets and scandal when their father is released from prison.
	If I Grow Up / Todd Strasser Growing up in the inner-city projects, DeShawn is reluctantly forced into the gang world by circumstances beyond his control.
	Joseph / Sheila J. Moses Fourteen-year-old Joseph tries to avoid trouble and keep in touch with his father, who is serving in Iraq, as he and his alcoholic, drug-addicted mother move from one homeless shelter to another.
	Keysha's Drama / Earl Sewell Sent to live the wealthy father she has never known, street-smart sixteen-year-old Keysha Kendall, bitter about her troubled childhood, refuses to forget--or let anyone else forget--where she came from as she struggles to belong.
	Midnight: a gangster love story / Sister Souljah Sent to America with his mother when his father's powerful empire is attacked, underworld lieutenant Midnight draws on his African intelligence and Muslim mindset to protect those he loves and reclaim his wealth and way of life. By the author of The Coldest Winter Ever.
	Nikki Turner Presents Street Chronicles: Christmas in the hood A special holiday anthology featuring the contributions of popular street lit authors.
	Rucker Park Setup / Paul Volponi While playing in a crucial basketball game on the very court where his best friend was murdered, Mackey tries to come to terms with his own part in that murder and decide whether to maintain his silence or tell J.R.'s father and the police what really happened.
	Sentences: the life of M.F. Grimm / Percy Carey and Ronald Wimberly In a brutally honest graphic novel memoir, an underground hip-hop icon shares the story of his life in the game--from the first time he picked up a microphone at a block party to the day he lost the use of his legs to gang violence.
	Ski Mask Way / 50 Cent and K. Elliott Hoping to start his life over after his prison release, ladies' man Seven finds himself tempted by the fast money of the drug trade when his day job fails to provide his desired lifestyle, a circumstance for which he teams up with a fellow ex-con for a high-stakes operation.
Updated Summer 2009 You can put these titles and others on hold online or at your local branch of the Oakland Public Library. Please let me know if you have any questions. Susy Moorhead smoorhead@oaklandlibrary.org (510) 597-5017